The purposes of the Education/Evaluation Core (EEC) are to initiate and support research and development activities in diabetes-related professional and patient education programs and community outreach. The EEC will concentrate its efforts on 1) continuation of R&D of problem- based diabetes instruction, 2) new R&D projects aimed at African American populations, and 3) Core Services related to development of outcome measures and education programming needed to support VU DRTC projects. R&D on Problem Based Instruction. Extensions of previous work on problem- based instruction will be aimed at l) continuation of R&D on problem based instruction in routine care, 2) developing and testing measures of patients' problem solving skills/cognitions, and 3) applying what we have learned about problem-based instruction through these efforts to DRTC outreach projects. R&D Aimed at African American and Native American Populations. The EEC proposes to invest substantial time in projects aimed at under served minority communities. Specifically, we propose to l) use the PRECEDE- PROCEED model of health promotion planning and intervention to guide a series of activities that revolve around community assessment. Then, armed with good diagnostic data, and in collaboration with other academic institutions and community representatives, we propose to 2) design interventions that increase awareness about diabetes and its seriousness, that modify important risk factors for diabetes and its complication (i.e, diet and exercise), and that increase medical utilization amount African American and Native American community members at high risk for diabetes and its complications. Core Services. The EEC will continue to participate in evaluations of specific instructional R&D programs. Specifically the EEC will 1) help evaluate the Summer Student Diabetes Research Training program, 2) assist with the development of evaluation methods for a DCCT translation program for dietitians ("Sugar is Not a Poison"), 3) conduct evaluations of the proposed community development initiatives, and 4) participate in Effective Patient Teaching programs (a continuing education course offered periodically to health professionals and as part of Pediatric Resident training.